Cotton-opener



(No Model.)

A. .T. ATHERTON.

COTTON. OPENER.

No. 311.097. Patented Jan. 20, 1885.

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'NETED STATES A'IENT Fries.

COTTON-OPENER.

ZEPESIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,097 dated January20, 1885.

Application filed May 7, 1884. (No model.)

invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gotton-Openers,of whichthe following is a specification.

What I have in view is a machine which shall be adapted to bring thatkind of cotton waste known as roving waste and card waste back intocondition to be worked over again, as ordinary cotton is. The conditionsessential to the attainment of this result are that the waste shall bethoroughly opened,and that the fiber or staple shall not be injured orbroken. These conditions are not fulfilled in any machine heretofore inuse of which I have knowledge. The ordinary opener-as, for instance, theVhitehead & Atherton whipperbeater-while it does not break orinjure thecotton fiber or staple,does not thoroughly and efficiently open thewaste above referred to, which in its original state is more or lessmatted, and in the case of roving waste is twisted and in the shape ofstrands. On the other hand,what are known as scratchers orshoddy-pickers? open waste, but at the same time break and injure thefiber or staple to such an extent as to unfit it to be worked over asordinary cotton staple; consequently the machines last named are, so faras I am aware, in practice used only for operating on tightly-twistedwaste, such as thread or cop waste, and cotton rags and the like,whichare to be made up into batting and similar products in which length andstrength of staple are not essential.

In other cotton opening machines it has been proposed to employ teeth ofconical or frusto'conical shape 5 but of such teeth the conical have hada length of about six times their diameter at the base, thus making themlong, sharp, and slim,with a taper so gradual as to unfit them for usefor the purpose which I have in view, and the frusto-conical ones havetapered so very little as to be in effect I merely ordinaryshoddy-picker teeth of somewhat exaggerated size. Moreover, in any casewithin my knowledge in which it has been proposed to use such teeth,they have been employed in conj unetion with stationary teeth of likecharacter fixed to the interior of the der. D is the apron in which isplaced the waste case in which the toothed cylinder revolved, the effectof which would be to break and tear the staple, besides clogging themachine and causing the accumulation on the stationary teeth, as well asthe revolving cylinder, of hardened masses, by the striking together ofwhich frictional heat would be generated sufficient at times to set themachine on fire.

I have found by careful and long-continued experiment that I can attainthe object I have in view by the employment, in conjunction 'staple, forthe comparatively abrupt taper of the teeth permits the waste to slipoff from them as they meet it at the feed-rolls. Their action is not atearing action but a combing'ac ti0n,and they combine in themselves thegood qualities of both the scratcher and the ordinary opener, withoutthe defects inherent in either.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented a cotton-openerembodying my invention'in its preferred form.

Figure l is a side elevation of the opener. Fig. 2 'is a perspectiveview of a portion of one of the toothed plates with which the cylinderis armed. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the plate.

A is the frame or casing, provided at the delivery end, ascustomary,with collecting-cyL inders E, (indicated by dotted lines,)which form the cotton into a sheet as it comes from the beater. B is theopener or beater-cylin- O are the fluted or ribbed feed-rolls, and

which is to be supplied to the feed-rolls. The cylindrical casing A, inwhich the beater-cylinder B revolves, is on its inner face free from anyteeth to co-operate with those inthe cylinder, and, indeed, from anyother obstruction the effect of which would be to afford the U ofspiders secured to the axle 00.

staple opportunity to lodge and accumulate in masses or bunches.

The cylinder is revolved by power applied in any usual manner to itsaxle 00, and the feed-rolls are driven at proper speed from the aXle ofthe cylinder through the intermediary of gearing which, as itsarrangement is well known to those skilled in the art to which thisinvention relates, I have omitted from the drawings. One convenient formis shown in United States Patent No. 11,826. Other known forms can beused with equally good effect.

The teeth with which the rotating openingcylinder is armed are lettereda. They are of conical form, and have bases which are broad as comparedwith their height, so that they taper uniformly, but somewhat abruptly,from base to point. In practice I make them about an inch in height andseven-sixteenths of an inch in diameter at the base, and this shape Ifind productive, on the whole, of the best result, although I'do notdesire to be understood as restricting myself to the precise proportionsabove stated.

The teeth, which are steel, are not held in lagging, as are the ordinaryslim and comparatively-sharp teeth of scratchers or shoddypickers; but Iprefer to cast them in one with a base-plate, b, as shown. In practice Iput about three rows of teeth on each plate, arranging the teeth inquineunX order and put ting them about as near together as their baseswill permit. The cylinder itself is composed The toothed plates aresecured in place on the spiders at suitable distance apart from oneanother, and, together with intervening sheet-iron plates, 0, which fillup the interval between the plates and have their edges fitted intogrooves in the adjoining edges of the plates, constitute the peripheryof the cylinder. The sheet iron plates are employed so as to cover thespaces between the toothed plates, and thus prevent cotton from enteringand gathering in the interior of the cylinder. I here remark that I donot claim this feature, inasmuch as it is the subject of Letters PatentNo. 146,795, dated January 27, 1874. The ends or heads of theopening-cylinder are also closed.

The arrangement of parts is such that when the opening-cylinder is inrevolution the teeth a pass in closs proximity to the feed-rolls, comingin contact with the cotton waste as it is fed along between the rolls.

The action of the teeth has been above eX- plained, and need not befurther described here. It is sufficicnt to say that the teeth, byreason of their shape, do not catch hold of and drag along with them thestrands, nor tear nor break the fiber or staple, but they comb off fromthe mass presented to them by the feed-rolls the fiber or staple withoutinjuring or breaking it, and thus bring it to condition in which it canreadily be worked over again, just as ordinary cotton is worked.

An advantage arising from the fact that the Waste will not stick to theteeth of my opener is that danger from fire, due to accumulation ofwaste on the teeth, is obviated. This is a serious diificultyencountered in the use of scratchers or shoddy-pickers. In theselastnamed machines the waste catches on and sticks to the sharp teeth,and gradually accumulates into amass, whichis carried around with therapidly-revolving cylinder, and in the end frequently takes fire byreason of the frictional heat generated by its continually strikingagainst the feed-rolls,and the absence of teeth or other obstructions onthe interior of the casing in which the cylinder revolves prevents anyaccumulation therein of masses of staple and the danger of fire or ofinjury to the staple consequent thereon.

Having now described my improvement and the best way known to me ofcarrying the same into effect, what I claim as'new and of my owninvention is In a machine for opening cotton waste, the combination,with the feed-rolls and the easing for the opening-cylinder, having itsinterior free from teeth or other obstructions, as described, of arotary opening-cylinder armed with broad based abruptly tapering teethhaving substantially the shape and characteristics hereinbefore setforth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 31st day of March,A. D. 1884.

. ABEL T. ATHERTON. 'Witnesses:

FRANK CoBURN, A. F. CALL.

